New York Knicks Wiretap

MSG Networks will debut a simulcast on MSG+ during tomorrow's game between the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers called by Overtime announcers. The pop culture-friendly simulcast is aimed at engaging younger audiences.

"I think people still want to watch the game, they still want to understand what’s going on and those things ring true of traditional broadcasts. But they want the people on screen to maybe be a little bit more relatable, be able to incorporate more things about pop culture and ultimately, too, feel a little more like their friend," said Overtime co-founder Zack Weiner.

MSG Networks senior vice president of marketing and content Kevin Marotta said the partnership represents an opportunity for his company to reach the Generation Z demographic.

“It was not necessarily, ‘We need to do something for young people,’ but it was, ‘How do we start to engage this audience for the future?’ There’s a recognition that there are some brands out there who do it really well. That sort of led us down the path with Overtime," said Marotta.

James Dolan revealed the New York Knicks have already heard from players and their representatives expressing interest in joining the franchise this offseason.

The Knicks have been linked with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

“No, look, New York is the mecca of basketball,” Dolan said. “We hear from people all the time, from players, representatives. It’s about who wants to come. We can’t respond because of the NBA rules, but that doesn’t stop them from telling us and they do.

“I can tell you from what we’ve heard I think we’re going to have a very successful offseason when it comes to free agents. The thing about the team now is that it’s very young. It’s the youngest team in the NBA. You take a look at some of the players that we have and they won’t be the centerpiece of the team, but as complements to the centerpiece of the team, we’re developing them right now.”

Dolan was asked if he expects the best available free agents to sign with the Knicks.

“Yes, I do think that,” he said. “I think we offer a pretty good situation for them. One, is a lot of them love New York. A bunch of them live in New York in the offseason. They know the team. They know [David Fizdale] really well. They know Steve [Mills) and they know Scott [Perry]. I think they’re fairly confident about the organization.

“Players who are free agents want to go to a winner and they want to get paid. We’re definitely going to pay them. And we think with them combined with the kids that we have, that we can build a winning team.”

James Dolan stood by his decision to confront a fan who was heckling him at Madison Square Garden.

The fan yelled "sell the team!" at Dolan as the owner of the New York Knicks was entering the tunnel to exit the main bowl of the arena.

“For the record, I’m not selling the team and I’m not quitting,” said Dolan.

Previous reports have suggested Dolan could have interest in selling the Knicks. Dolan stressed he wouldn’t sell even if someone offered him as much as $6 billion.

“We’re not quitting. We’re not selling,” he said. “And we believe we’re going to bring a winner home.”

Dolan explained his side of the confrontation.

“I do understand for the fans it’s about winning and losing and we haven’t been doing much winning. And there’s a real big frustration level there. We get it. I don’t like losing either,” Dolan said. “If you want to go right into [Saturday’s] incident, it’s pretty easy. It appears this gentleman and his friends planned to do this. Just before the game they cleared their profiles out. We have video which shows them moving from one side of the arena to the other and pointing at me, where I was walking, to set this ambush up and they did. As soon as they were done with it, it was immediately sold to TMZ.

“Not for nothing, I shouldn’t have taken the bait,” he said. “I will say we had just lost, again, and believe it or not I get frustrated with it, too. … I don’t mind. You hear all kinds of stuff, but what is a problem is when someone becomes confrontational. These people clearly were there for a confrontation.”

Dolan admitted he wouldn't kick out everyone if more fans chanted the same thing at him.

“The ban is only coming from the fact that he planned it. They were stalking me,” Dolan said.

Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant have been linked with signing with the New York Knicks over the past few weeks. Irving and Durant were teammates at the All-Star Game and shared a lengthy, public conversation after Boston's win at Golden State this week.

"I was talking to some people who were with "Team Free Agent", I mean "Team LeBron" at All-Star," said Brian Windhorst. "And they said that Kyrie and KD were like a middle school couple that weekend. Eating together... Doing drills together at practice.

"'I'll rebound for you. You rebound for me. I'll post you up. You post me up.'

The camp of Kristaps Porzingis has privately refuted the suggestion he wasn't interested in playing with Kevin Durant. The New York Knicks will pursue Durant this offseason and their trade of Porzingis helped create two max slots.

Before the start of the season, Irving told a gathering of season-ticket holders of the Celtics that he intended to re-sign with the team as a free agent. Sources say Irving also expressed the same commitment to his teammates.

Mitchell Robinson, who is averaging 5.5 blocks per-36 minutes in 2019, says he can get up to 6 blocks per game with increased playing time.

"Probably around six. I feel like I can do around six," said Robinson, who's averaging 18 minutes per game off the bench.

David Fizdale called the 20-year-old Robinson an elite shot-blocker.

“I’m not putting a ceiling on him. If he believes it, I’m with him. He’s showing that he’s an elite shot-blocker. Obviously, I’m going to keep trying to grow him and build him up where he’s going to play more and more minutes. But the sky’s the limit for that kid.”

Kristaps Porzingis was wary of potentially having to share the spotlight with Kevin Durant if Durant were to have signed with the New York Knicks this summer, according to Zach Lowe.

"I’m confident after talking to a lot of people, I don't think he was psyched about playing with Durant. I don't know how directly that was verbalized to the Knicks, but I'm confident that it wasn't something that was like his Plan A," said Lowe on a recent podcast.

Lowe added that Porzingis "wanted to be the face of the franchise" in New York before eventually getting traded to the Mavericks.